don't want to run generator all day and night.

We routinely cruise for hours at a time with the genny turned off. The ice maker stays cold and the ice is fine for at least 10 hours. Fridge also stays cold although it runs on DC. Even if we lose power at home our fridge will hold its temp for quite a long time if you are not in and out of it. We do keep the genny on when anchored out until we go to bed. The water stays hot all night and we still have good ice in the morning. We do power it up to make coffee and more hot water for showering.
 
sbw1 said:
We routinely cruise for hours at a time with the genny turned off. The ice maker stays cold and the ice is fine for at least 10 hours. Fridge also stays cold although it runs on DC. Even if we lose power at home our fridge will hold its temp for quite a long time if you are not in and out of it. We do keep the genny on when anchored out until we go to bed. The water stays hot all night and we still have good ice in the morning. We do power it up to make coffee and more hot water for showering.
Click to expand...

That right there is some subjective data.... what is "cold enough" and "quite a long time"?

So... I'm sure I have a very different group of kids and people on my boat as I've learned that 4 boys (maybe 5 if you count me) like to open the fridge every 10 minutes and stare at it's contents and go "hunting" for something to eat. I'm sure all of you know this look... 14 year old opens fridge and stares at the inside with a blank look on his face...

So the solution is to yell at them "HEY! CLOSE THE DAMN FRIDGE DOOR!! THE GENERATOR IS OFF!" We'll add that to "HEY! STOP USING ALL THE HOT WATER."

I'll run the generator... less stressful.
 
thanks for all the answers just curious ..does our generator draw from the center tank? we have three tanks 200,200,200
 
you'll burn more just starting your engines than your genny will burn all day.
 
I agree with run generator all night, all day. Just before boat leave slip, gen on. Stay on hook, gen on, and gen stays on until I can reconnect to shore power. We have an ice maker and like to have ice for the mojitos. Especially a diesel gen, run and don't worry about it. They are made to run forever, especially the low RPM model diesel gens as Gary had already said.
 
ronandcarolyn said:
$8.00 to run genny all night....what was I worried about...lol
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I'm sure you realize that this isn't even boating $8, they're yacht dollars.....:lol:, so figure about x8 or x10 when converted to the real world money :lol:.
 
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Four Suns said:
The appliances on the larger boats are not boat/RV type things. The fridge and freezers are Sub-Zero on my boat... same stuff you buy for a house. All 120v stuff.. except the AC systems and water heater... they are 240v. And no way am I taking a cold shower in the morning because I want to save $8 on fuel from running the generator 24 hours nor risking a fridge and freezer packed with food that "warms up a little." You *really* want to cycle your mayonnaise between 38 degrees and 50 degrees? Ever been sick from food-born bacteria because food wasn't kept at the proper fridge temp?

My comments are for low-rpm (1800) diesel generators. That's what the OP was asking about. Gas is a different story...
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My gas generator runs at 1800 rpms...from the time I leave the dock until I hook back up to shore power somewhere. What was it I told Alex the other day???? Oh yeah, just run the sumbitch...
 
Four Suns said:
That's because your GAS generator only has one cylinder... I think I saw the name "Briggs and Stratton" on the side of it... next to the pull cord.
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:smt043:smt043
 
Four Suns said:
That's because your GAS generator only has one cylinder... I think I saw the name "Briggs and Stratton" on the side of it... next to the pull cord.
Click to expand...

It says Mitsubishi on the side and it has three sparking plugs. I think it came out of a Gallant or something.

And I can start it without the pull cord, thank you.

Freakin' diesel boat guys....sheeesh.
 
To the guy who asked if having the fuel valves on opposite tanks draws from both tanks the answer is no. By having one valve to one tank and the other valve to the other tank your generator will actually transfer fuel from one side to the other and eventually over fill the return tank possibly causing a fuel spill and risking a huge fine. Make sure the feed and return are ALWAYS pointed to the same side unless you need to transfer fuel.
 
Just looked at a gas 370AC with a buddy. The mains had 531 hours, the genny had 1400.
 
I think it's good. Most of the generator problems I hear of seem to happen to generators that are NOT used. People brag how their genny has 22 hours and the boat is 12 years old. I don't look at that as an advantage.
 
I've owned my boat for 5 seasons now. I average less than 10 hours a season on the genie. I have to remind myself to excercise it. I try to run it for an hour or so every 3 or 4 weeks under a load. It runs great.
 
I'm going to hit 4000 hours on mine this year.
 
MoJo in Daytona said:
....By having one valve to one tank and the other valve to the other tank your generator will actually transfer fuel from one side to the other and eventually over fill the return tank possibly causing a fuel spill and risking a huge fine. Make sure the feed and return are ALWAYS pointed to the same side unless you need to transfer fuel.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about this?

Here's what the manual says:

genny_fuel_crossover.jpg

Unfortunately, it doesn't provide great deal of the details, but what you described sounds like a hazard and I would think if this was true there should be a big warning label advising not to turn the valves in different direction (one to FEED and the other to RETURN).

I also have hard time understanding how the generator would be used to transfer fuel from one tank to the other. Do you have any links or other references where I can read up on it? I never had a boat with fuel transfer system (I haven't had a chance to find if my 420 has it), but I would think that it requires some sort of a pump to physically move fuel from one tank to another, not a generator.
 
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Alex,
The fuel consumption and fuel return on a generator is minimal that it would be very unusual for it to overfill the tank. The generator does however return unused fuel back to the fuel tank. So if the supply is on "Port" and the return is on "Starboard", the unused fuel does return to the tank it did not draw from from. Unless you you fill up, idol for 5 minutes and drop the hook, i don't think it is a concern. It does state under normal operating conditions, the feed and return should be set on the same tank. People need to use common sense and the operator needs to read exactly what you posted.
 
Four Suns said:
That's because your GAS generator only has one cylinder... I think I saw the name "Briggs and Stratton" on the side of it... next to the pull cord.
Click to expand...

Are sure it didn't say Honda and was strapped to the swimstep.....? :huh:
 
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